


Carry That Weight

by CheshiresArrow (TheWriterEs)



Series: Clint Winchester [6]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Supernatural, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Episode: s02e12 Nightshifter, F/M, Gen, The Winchesters Have Bad Luck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-06
Updated: 2016-04-06
Packaged: 2018-05-31 07:13:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6460870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWriterEs/pseuds/CheshiresArrow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He should have known that Adam's first Hunt with Sam and Dean would go sour. Nothing was ever easy for their family. 6th in the Clint Winchester series</p>
            </blockquote>





	Carry That Weight

_September 2006_

“Well, aren’t you glad I didn’t let you go with them on a hunt?” Clint asked his youngest brother with a slight smirk. “Those idiots went and got themselves arrested.”

Adam leaned back against his seat at the kitchen table, a small frown on his face.

The call had come from Sam – apparently, Dean had been caught in a victim’s home with their blood on his hands. Naturally, the police arrested the both of them, and they were now sitting in interrogation rooms in the police department. At least, Dean was. The cops were under the impression that the older brother was dragging Sam around against his will. Sam was able to get out, and was currently trying to solve their little mystery before anyone else died.

Clint wasn’t too worried about them – after all, they were some of the best Hunters out there – but he hoped the two of them would learn their lesson and not get caught next time. Besides, if he really ended up needing to bust Dean out of jail, he had a legit badge and everything, not to mention he ranked high above any cops.

“Well, I’m glad that I’m not under arrest,” Adam admitted. “But I still wanna go on a hunt! I’m gonna be sixteen in, like, a week.” He pouted slightly, which his oldest brother found hilarious.

Clint pretended to be thinking about something for a moment before he spoke again.

“Tell you what,” he said. “Once you’re sixteen, we’ll spend the rest of the year – don’t give me that look, Kid – we’ll spend the rest of the year teaching you how to use a variety of weapons. After Christmas, you can go with Sam and Dean on a couple of easy hunts.”

Clint had made up his mind two months ago, a couple of weeks after their father’s death. Kid needed to learn how to protect himself, after all, but he was just that, a kid. So, he would spend the rest of 2006 learning how to be a Hunter before he actually went on any hunts. Simple enough – at least, as simple as things ever got for their family.

Adam raised his eyebrows.

“And by easy, you mean…” he prompted Clint, who rolled his eyes.

“No werewolves or vamps, no demons. Just a couple of salt and burns, you hear me?”

Adam gave him a blinding grin.

“No problem.”

* * *

_September 29 th, 2006_

By some miracle, both Sam and Dean were able to make it for Adam’s birthday.

It was held at the Roadhouse, Ellen Harvelle having insisted that she host after Sam mentioned his younger brother in passing. She’d met Clint once, she told him, when he was probably fourteen or fifteen. Of course, she hadn’t seen him in years, not since he went solo, so she’d never met his wife.

Adam was absolutely thrilled when Dean gave him a shiny new shotgun, which was promptly taken away by Clint.

“You can have it back when you know how to use it.” He promised his little brother, who nodded sullenly.

He received his own Hunters journal, courtesy of Laura, and Natasha gave him a S.H.I.E.L.D. issue phone, untraceable by even the best hackers (someday, that phone would be hacked by both Charlie Bradbury and Tony Stark, but that’s a tale for another time).

The party guests – Ellen and her daughter Jo, along with the genius Ash, his family and Natasha, Bobby, and a handful of other Hunters – laughed and talked amongst one another, and so Adam was able to slip outside unnoticed. He stood by the front door of the Hunters bar, his hands stuffed into his jacket pockets, and he watched his breath leave in little white puffs.

“Why are you out here?”

He jumped slightly, but relaxed when he saw that it was only Dean that now stood beside him. He wrapped his arms around himself as he looked forward.

“Do you think Dad would have told you about me?” he said finally, causing Dean to pause.

“I don’t know,” he said honestly. “I’d like to believe he would, y’know? But then again, Dad liked to keep his secrets.”

After a few moments of silence, Adam spoke.

“I’m really glad that I found out about you guys,” he said quietly, and his older brother grinned down at him.

“Me too, shorty, me too.”

He hesitated briefly before putting an arm around the smaller boys shoulders and pulling him into a short hug.

“Now let’s get inside,” Dean said gruffly, “Because I swear I’m not having a chick flick moment with you, even if it is your birthday.”

* * *

_January 2007_

Christmas came and went, and New Years was spent at the farmhouse, lighting off semi-illegal fireworks. Adam enjoyed every bit of it, and he was absolutely thrilled when Clint said that he’d been trained well enough to go out on a hunt with Sam and Dean.

“You,” Clint pointed a finger in Adam’s face, “aren’t aloud to do anything stupid, got it?” At Adam’s nod, he whirled around, finger still extended, and faced the other two brothers. “You don’t let him do anything stupid. Don’t let anything happen to him, or yourselves. I’m counting on you.” He raised an eyebrow, and Dean huffed, faking annoyance.

“Geeze, Clint, we got it, we got it!” He shouldered his bag and nudged Adam towards the car. “Get in, Kid.”

“Shotgun!” Adam crowed, making way towards the front of the Impala, but Sam caught him by the back of his shirt.

“Ah, no.” he said with a small chuckle. Adam pouted momentarily, but his mood was too good to bother being upset over something so trivial.

He wriggled out of Sam’s grasp and clambered into the back of the car, excited for the hunt.

“So,” he shot a grin towards his brothers. “What are we hunting?”

Sam shifted in the front seat so that he could see the youngest Winchester brother.

“Not quite sure yet,” he admitted. “This lady up and decided to rob the jewelry store that she worked at.”

“Okay,” Adam said, drawing out the word slowly. “How does this mean that we have a hunt? Jewelry stores get robbed all the time.”

Sam shot him a look that clearly said be quiet and I’ll tell you.

“She shot a guy in the face.”

The teenager frowned a bit. It still didn’t sound like something that would warrant involvement from Hunters, but he supposed that Sam and Dean would know better than him about that. Either way, it was still his first case.

“Dean, what are we going to use as his cover story?” Sam asked his older brother, and Adam could see Dean’s smirk reflected in the rearview mirror.

“Adam, you’re pretty tall, right?”

The blond blinked. What did that have to do with anything?

“Yeah,” he said cautiously, “I’m almost six foot. Why?”

“Sammy, hand that back to him,” Dean said, and Adam was given what looked to be a black leather wallet.

He opened it, and was surprised to see his own picture attached to a fake FBI badge. His head shot up, and he met Dean’s eyes briefly through the mirror.

“Really?” he asked, feeling excited.

His brothers grinned.

“Congrats, baby bro,” Dean told him. “According to that, you’re a twenty three year old agent in training.”

* * *

 

Dean went off on his own to talk to an attractive female witness (Sam shooting him an annoyed look as he left), and Adam went with Sam to question the manager of the jewelry store.

"What can you tell us about the incident?" Sam asked him, Adam standing by his elbow.

Adam's cover was that he was an agent in training, and it seemed like everyone that they'd come across so far was buying the story.

"Helena was our head buyer. She…" the man paused, visibly upset, before he continued. "She was family, you know? She said it herself, every year at the Christmas party. She said we were the only family she had."

"I'm sorry that this happened," Adam said honestly, and the man nodded.

"So there were never any signs that she'd do something like this?" Sam asked the manager, who shook his head sadly.

"No." he replied. "Still can't believe it, even now. That night, Helena came back to the store after closing. Cleaned out all the display cases, and the safe. Edgar – our night watchman – he caught her in the act. He didn't know what to do; he'd known her for years. He called me at home."

Sam looked at the man with rapt attention.

"And that's when she took the gun from him?" Adam asked curiously. Sam and Dean had had him read all the reports on the case, so he knew somewhat of what was going on.

The man nodded.

"She shot him in the face," he said. "I heard him die over the phone."

Adam blanched slightly.

"I think I'll go check in with D-" he stopped trying to recall what cover name his brother was using before giving up. "The other agent. I'll check with him."

Sam and the manager gave him parting nods, and he walked over to Dean and the attractive female witness.

"Well, the cops said. She dropped the hair dryer in the bath and fried herself. They should know, right?" He caught the tail end of the conversation between Dean and whatever-her-name, and he shuddered a little bit at the mental picture. Why did every death have to be gruesome and ghastly? Couldn't the monsters clean up after themselves?

"Yeah, well," Dean said, looking grim. "Thanks, Frannie, I think that's all I need."

The woman, now identified as Frannie, smiled at him coyly.

"Really?" she said. "Because I've got more. You know," she looked around slyly, "if you wanted to interview me sometime. In private?"

Oh, he did  _not_  want to hear this.

Dean caught sight of his younger brother, his eyes flickering between him and Sam guiltily.

"Yeah. Yeah, I think that's a good idea," he said, and Adam glared at him. "You're a true patriot, you really are. Why don't you write your number down there for me, that'd be good."

As the two of them walked back over to Sam and the manager, Adam hissed in his brother's ear, "You're supposed to be working, numbnuts."

"I am working!" he protested.

The manager was telling Sam that the police - before he himself even got a chance to view - it took all of the security camera footage, and Dean sighed in slight annoyance.

"Yeah," he said as he and Adam approached the other two. "Of course they did." He waved the girl's phone number at Sam, who simply gave him a deadpanned look.

It was dark when they finally left the jewelry store, and all three of them piled into the car. Dean drove them down a dark street and pulled up in front of a small house.

"Five, this is it," Sam announced, and Adam leaned forward in his seat so that he could get a better view of the front of the house.

"Friggin' cops," Dean muttered as he clambered out of the car simultaneously with Sam, Adam trailing after the two of them.

"They're just doing their job, Dean," Sam pointed out, and Dean scoffed a little as they began approaching the house.

"No, they're doing our job, only they don't know it, so they suck at it."

Adam snickered, and Sam shot him a look.

"Talk to me about this bank." Dean said, looking at his youngest brother pointedly.

Adam froze momentarily, trying to remember what exactly he had read about it.

"Uh, Milwaukee National Trust," he said slowly. "It was hit about a month ago."

"Sam M.O. as the jewelry store?"

Sam took over.

"Yep," he stated. "Inside job, longtime employee, the never-in-a-million-years type. Dude robs the bank, then goes home and supposedly commits suicide."

Adam frowned. From what he'd researched (and what Bobby, Clint, Sam, and Dean had pounded into his head), it sounded like either a ghost or demonic possession. However, there was neither ectoplasm nor sulfur at any of the crime scenes, so those had been ruled out almost as soon as the three brothers had arrived.

"This guy Resnick," Dean continued, "he was the security guard on duty?"

Adam nodded, and Sam added helpfully, "Yeah. He was actually beaten unconscious by the teller who heisted the place."

"God," Dean said with a shake of his head."

"Yeah," Adam echoed.

Sam nocked on the screen door of the house, calling out to the owner.

"Mr. Resnick? Ronald Resnick?"

A bright floodlight was suddenly activated, and the three of them shielded their eyes.

"Son of a-" Dean started, but was interrupted by a man, youngish with dark hair, came to the door warily.

"FBI, Mr. Resnick," Sam stated, and the young man narrowed his eyes at them through the screen door.

"Let me see the badge," he requested.

The brothers exchanged quick looks before pulling out their badges and slapping them against the screen door in unison (which Adam thought was incredibly cool). Ronald Resnick squinted at them carefully.

"I already gave my statement to the police," he said suspiciously.

Dean and Sam glanced at Adam, and he steeled himself.

"We know that." He said, trying to stay calm and pretend he wasn't currently breaking about fifty laws by impersonating the federal government. "There are just some things about your statement that we would like to get some clarification on."

Ronald stared at him.

"You read it?" he asked.

"Sure did."  _No, they hadn't_.

"You come to listen to what I've got to say?"

"Well," said Dean. "That's why we're here."

Ronald stared at them for a moment longer.

"Don't FBI agents usually come in pairs?" he asked.

"He's an agent in training," Sam said motioning towards Adam.

"Alright. Come on in."

He opened the door and lead them into the house.

* * *

This Ron guy was absolutely crazy. And yet, he'd helped them to some degree. First off, he believed in aliens. Second, he thought that the thing that robbed the bank wasn't his coworker (which was true), but he believed it to be a 'mandroid'. Something about the Chinese government working on androids and such, as well as bit of footage from the bank's security tapes showing reflective eyes in the robber.

It wasn't a lens flare – no one else's eyes shone the way this dude's did – so they could rule that out. The three of them didn't really discuss it until they returned to their rundown motel room and changed out of their cheap 'FBI' suits and into their customary plaid shirts and jeans.

"Man," Dean said as he looked at Sam, "that has got to be the kicker, straight up. I mean, you tell that poor son of a bitch that – what did you say, remand the tapes that he copied? Classified evidence of an ongoing investigation?" He laughed. "That's messed up."

Sam, who had sat down on one of the beds facing the television so that he could watch the tape, looked over and shot his older brother a look.

"What?" he asked. "Are you pissed at me or something?"

Dean shook his head.

"Nah. I just think it's a little creepy how good of a Fed you are. I mean, you acted a bit like  _Romanoff_  back there!" He chuckled a little. "Come on, we could have at least thrown the guy a bone. He did some pretty good legwork here."

"He thought the thing was a Mandroid," Adam pointed out with a bit of amusement.

Dean hesitated.

"Except for the Mandroid part," he agreed. "I liked him. He's not that different from you guys or me, or even Clint and all them. People think we're crazy."

Sam stared at him.

"Yeah," he said. "Except he's not a Hunter, Dean. He's just a guy who stumbled onto something real. If he were to go up against this thing he'd get torn apart. Better to stay in the dark and stay alive."

"Yeah, I guess," Dean admitted.

Adam watched them for a moment before voicing his thoughts.

"Didn't most Hunters get started by finding something real, though?" he asked, and his older brothers looked at him. He flushed slightly before continuing. "I mean, Clint said that Dad got started when your mom died, and he also said that one of his friends used to be a dentist before coming across something. Even I didn't get into this stuff before that demon killed my mom. So, like, this Ron dude could end up becoming a Hunter if we told him the truth." He said this all hurriedly so that neither of his brothers would interrupt him.

Sam and Dean exchanged looks before Dean spoke.

"All of that," he sighed. "Yeah, it's true that's how most Hunters get their start – except for the ones raised in it, of course. But Addie, once you get into this life, there's no way out, not really. We don't want Ron to have to deal with all this crap."

"We wish you didn't have to, either." Sam added softly.

Adam frowned, but said no more on the matter. Dean placed a sheet of tracing paper over a map he had been examining earlier and began marking it with a red pen. Sam frowned as he watched the tape again, and paused it once more on the part where the assailant's eyes flared.

"Shapeshifter," he sighed. "Just like back in St. Louis. Same retinal reaction to video."

"Eyes flare at the camera. I hate those friggin' things," Dean muttered.

Sam snorted.

"You think I don't?" he asked, and Adam understood what they were talking about.

"Is this when Dean was on the news being charged for murder?" he asked innocently, and both his brothers looked at him. "What? Clint tells me things so I don't make the same mistakes!"

Dean placed his face in his hands and groaned. Sam looked at him in amusement before turning to his younger brother.

"It's kind of a touchy subject," he said. "Dean doesn't like being reminded that he's legally dead."

Adam nodded in understanding.

"Sorry, dude," he said to his brother, who just groaned.

"Dean, stop acting like a baby and help out," Sam said with slight annoyance. "Look. If this shifter's anything like the one we killed in Missouri-" Dean cut him off.

"Then Ronald was right. All right, they like to layer up underground, preferably the sewer. And all the robberies have been connected so far, right?"

"Yeah," Sam and Adam said simultaneously.

"With the, uh, sewer main layout." Dean continued. "There's one more bank lined up on that same sewer main."

* * *

The sign above the door read  _City Bank of Milwaukee_  with  _Financial Services & Investment_ underneath. A security guard lead Sam, Adam, and Dean – now uniformed as technicians – down the main hall.

"Well," said the guard as the four of them walked. "We haven't had any flags go up on our system yet."

Dean shot the man a professional smile.

"No, this is a glitch in the overall grid," he improvised. "We just want to make sure the branch monitors are kosher."

The guard considered him for a moment.

"Well, better to be safe than sorry, I guess."

"That's the plan," Adam agreed.

The guard opened the door to an observation room with several televisions screens showing security footage from all over the bank.

"All righty," he said. "You guys need anything else?"

"Oh, no, no," Sam hurriedly replied. "Uh, we'll be in and out before you know it, just a routine check."

The guard smiled and nodded, saying a quick "Okie-dokie," before leaving the room.

Dean watched him go with a grin.

"I like him," he declared as both of his brothers rolled their eyes. "He says 'okie-dokie'."

Sam raised an eyebrow at him.

"What if he's the shifter?" he countered, but Dean's grin never wavered.

"Well," he said. "Then we follow him home and put a silver bullet through his chestplate." He said brightly.

Adam snorted in vague amusement.

"You're messed up, Dude."

"Thanks!"

The three of them made themselves comfortable in the chairs that were meant for security guards and watched the screens.

"Okay. Well, either of you got any popcorn?" Dean asked randomly, receiving another deadpan look from Sam.

They watched the screens for what felt like an eternity – in reality, it was only about half an hour. The guard that had let them into the observation room passed by one of the cameras, and his eyes appeared to be normal on screen.

"Well," Dean commented. "It looks like mister okie-dokie is… okie-dokie."

"That was a lame joke, Dean, and you know it." Adam told him, and received a light glare in response.

Sam leaned back in his chair and sighed.

"Maybe we jumped the gun on this, guys." He said, looking a little tired. "I mean, we don't even know it's here."

"Mm-hmm." Dean hummed, distracted, and Adam snorted a little bit when he saw what his older brother was distracted by.

"Maybe we should just go back to the sewers and… and…" Sam continued, but drifted off when he caught sight of Dean, who was zooming in one of the cameras on an attractive young woman who was bending over. "Dean," he said with exasperated annoyance, "we're supposed to be looking for eyes."

"I'm getting there," Dean protested.

"Oh, really?" Adam said with amusement.

"Wait a minute," Dean replied.

On another screen, a middle-aged man turned and faced the camera. His eyes flared.

"Hello, freak," Dean muttered, and Sam grinned a little.

"Got him."

Adam and Sam headed for the door, but Dean lingered behind, looking at another screen.

"Guys!" he called, and his younger brothers turned back to him.

"What?" asked Adam, and Dean motioned to the screen he'd been staring at.

They watched as Ronald scurried up to the outer door with a chain and a padlock, effectively chaining the door shut.

Adam groaned. This was not going to be an easy hunt.

* * *

The three of them walked down the hallway that lead towards the main hall of the bank; a few panicked people brushed past them as they ran in the opposite direction.

Ronald had gone absolutely crazy, and now the three Winchester brothers were stuck here with the civilians.

“And you said we shouldn’t bring guns,” Dean commented as they made their way to the main hall. Sam huffed a little.

“I didn’t know this was gonna happen, Dean.” He bit back.

Adam stayed behind the two, feeling like he was going to puke. This was so not how he pictured his first hunt going.

“Just let me do the talking,” Dean said. “I don’t think he likes you very much, Agent Johnson.” This last bit was directed at Sam, who scowled.

“We’re doomed,” Adam whispered.

As they entered the hall, they saw Ron holding up a key, which Adam assumed belonged to the heavy padlock and chains barring the main door.

“Now, there’s only one way in or out of here, and I chained it up,” Ron announced, and the young Hunter felt his mouth go dry as he watched the civilians huddle together with fear. “So nobody’s leaving, do you understand?”

Several people nodded, but most just stared motionless at the crazy man with a gun. Dean left his hiding place – drawing notice to him and his brothers – and stepped into Ron’s view, speaking while he did so.

“Hey, buddy. Calm down,” he said to him. “Just calm down…”

Ron looked at him, startled.

“What the-“ he shook his head slightly. “You! Get on the floor, now!”

Dean, Adam, and Sam complied, not wanting to risk being shot.

“Okay,” Dean continued to speak. “We’re dong that. Just don’t shoot anybody, especially us.”

Ronald glared at the blond man.

“I knew it,” he spat. “As soon as you two left. You ain’t FBI. Who are you? Who are you working for, huh? The Men in Black? You working for the Mandroid?”

If the situation wasn’t so serious, and people weren’t in peril, Adam might have laughed.

“We’re not working for the Mandroid!” Sam protested, and Ron’s glare deepened.

“You, shut up!” he yelled. “I ain’t talking to you, I don’t like you.”

Dean gave Sam an ‘I told you so’ look, and Sam let out a small sigh.

“Fair enough,” he said, trying not to provoke the obviously angry man with a gun.

Adam just repeated his ‘ _I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die’_ mantra over and over in his head. If Ron didn’t kill him, or the shapeshifter, then Clint would be more than happy to do the job. _Oh, geeze. He’d never even kissed a girl!_

Their attacker looked around the room, his gaze landing on a dark-skinned, middle-aged man. He pointed at him and ordered, “Get on ‘em, Frisk them down, make sure they got no weapons on them. Go!”

The man kept his eyes on Ron as he walked over to the three brothers, and began to frisk them. After a moment, he pulled a knife out of Dean’s boot. Sam and Adam shot him incredulous looks.

“Now what have we here?” Ron said, and Dean looked over to his brothers to try and explain.

“I wasn’t just going to walk in here naked!” he defended himself.

“We’re all going to die,” Adam moaned.

Ron marched over and took the knife from the hostage, gesturing with his gun towards the other captives. “Get back there,” he said, and the man did so, obviously not wanting to be on the receiving end of the rifle. Ron dropped the knife in the deposit box, and it clattered to the bottom.

Dean watched it, and he cried out, “No, no, no, no, no!” He winced slightly as Ron turned back to him. “We know you don’t want to hurt anybody. That’s exactly what’s gonna happen if you keep waving that cannon around, and why don’t you let these people go?” he said in a rush.

The dark haired man’s face matched the panic that Adam felt, and tightened the grip on his assault rifle.

“No! I already told you, if nobody’s gonna stop this thing, then I’ve got to do it myself!” He growled out.

“Uh, actually, that’s why we were – never mind.” Adam said, going cross-eyed at the barrel of the gun in his face.

Dean took control of the situation once more.

“Hey, we believe you!” he said. “That’s why we’re here.”

The other man looked down at him suspiciously.

“You don’t believe me,” he stated. “Nobody believes me! How could they?”

Dean pursed his lips, trying to decide what to do, before he spoke. “Come here.”

“What? No!”

Dean shrugged as best he could from where he was lying down on the floor.

“You’re holding the gun, boss, you’re calling the shots. I just want to tell you something. Come here.” He said again, and this time Ronald cautiously approached him and leaned in to hear what Dean had to say.

Dean whispered quietly to him. “It’s in the bank manager.”

“What?”

“Why do you think we’ve got these getups, huh?” Dean replied. “We’ve been monitoring the cameras in the back. We saw the bank manager. We saw his eyes.”

“His laser eyes?” Ron asked, his own eyes widening a fraction.

Adam wanted to face palm. The dude was really set on this ‘Mandroid’ theory, wasn’t he?

“Yes,” Dean confirmed, then frowned slightly. “No. No! No, look we’re running out of time, okay? We’ve got to find him before he changes into something else”

Ronald moved back a little ways.

“Like I’m gonna listen to you,” he hissed. “You’re a damn liar.”

Dean sighed and cautiously hoisted himself up off of the floor, holding out his hands to appear non-threatening.

The other man hoisted his gun once more.

“I’ll shoot you! Get down!”

Dean shook his head.

“Take me.” He stated. “Okay? Take me with you, take me as a hostage. But we’ve gotta act fast. Because the longer we just sit here the more time he has to change.” He paused momentarily before continuing. “Look at me, man. I believe you. You’re not crazy, there really is something inside this bank.”

Ronald stared at him.

“All right.” He said, and Adam allowed himself to feel a brief flash of relief. “You come with me. But everyone else gets in the vault!”

Gasps and cries came from the other hostages, and Adam’s relief was gone.

* * *

 

A young redheaded woman was staring in awe at the vault door, where Sam and Adam had caught their last glimpse of their older brother. Adam shivered slightly, and Sam placed a comforting arm around his teenaged brother.

“Who is that man?” the redhead said, not really directing the question to anyone in particular.

Adam and his brother looked at the door as well. They were both understandably quite worried.

“He’s our brother,” Sam informed her absently, and her gaze flickered to him, not even noticing Adam.

“He is so brave,” she said with earnest, and Sam very nearly rolled his eyes.

After about a half hour or so locked in the vault, the lights flickered out, as well as any air conditioning that might have been keeping the temperature down. Several of the hostages started fanning themselves to stop the heat, and Sherry – the redhead – didn’t seem much fazed, and she kept babbling to Sam, who was rolling his eyes without any restraint now.

“Has your brother always been so, um, wonderful?” she asked him. “I mean, staring down that gun. And you know the way he played right into that psycho’s crazy head, telling him what he wanted to hear, I mean, he’s like, a real hero, or, or something.”

Geeze, even Adam was getting tired of this girl’s sappy talk. Sam just continued to stare at her with a deadpan face – his specialty, it seemed.

“Yeah, yeah,” he said, clearly not paying much attention.

Suddenly, the door opened to reveal Dean, now holding a handgun.

“Oh my gosh!” Sherry squealed. “You saved us! You saved us!”

Dean did not smile, or even change his expression at all. He merely stared at the young woman.

“Actually,” he said, “I just found a few more. Come on, everybody, let’s go. Let’s go.”

Sam and Adam and everyone else in the vault stared in confusion as several more people, including the ‘okie-dokie’ guard from earlier, were herded inside.

“What are you doing?” Sherry cried out, but Dean ignored her, his gaze drifting over to where his brothers stood.

“Sam, look, uh, Ronald and I need to talk to you.” He said. Both of them went to move forward, but Dean only shook his head. “No, Adam. Stay.”

Normally, Adam would have resented being ordered to stay like a dog, but his only concern right now was what his brothers were doing with Ron. He looked desperately to them, but Dean only shook his head once more. Sam left the vault, and Dean shut the door behind him with an apologetic shrug.

“He, he just…” It seemed that Sherry could not comprehend what had just happened, and she looked towards Adam. “Do you know what’s happening?”

He shrugged and said, “If I knew, do you really think I’d still be in here?”

She narrowed her eyes at him an looked away angrily, and their fellow hostages continued to fan themselves. The guard began to clutch at his chest and breathed heavily.

The door opened, and Sam shot them all a quick, sheepish smile.

“I’m going to leave this open.” He stated. “Give you guys some fresh air, all right? But no one leaves this vault.”

He shot his younger brother a look, and Adam knew that he was going to stay here. Actually, he was okay with that. He didn’t think he was ready to take on a shapeshifter quite yet, anyway. He could hear the phone ringing from behind Sam, and caught sight of Ronald moving towards it.

Sherry looked to Sam with confusion.

“I don’t understand,” she said. “Why are you helping him?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” Sam confessed.

Behind Sam, Ronald had answered the phone, sweat shining on his forehead. If he wasn’t holding them all hostage, Adam might have felt a little bit bad for the guy.

“Hello?”

The guard in the vault with the hostages clutched at his chest, and in a pained voice announced, “I think I gotta get out of here!”

Sam looked at him with slight concern.

“Look,” he said. “I’m very sorry, but you’re just going to have to stay put, all right?”

The man closed his eyes and scrunched up his face. If he were faking, thought Adam, he was doing a really good job.

“What?” he could hear Ron saying in the background. “What do you mean, demands?”

Sam rolled his eyes and whipped his head around, calling to the man, “Ronald, hang up!”

“No, I, I’m not a bank robber, I, I, I-“

“I’ve got to really get out of here!” The guard said, starting to move forward ever so slightly.

“Sir, you can’t leave!” Sam said with a hint of panic in his voice.

Well, he had no future as a bank robber, that was for certain.

“-kind of a crime fighter, I guess.”

“Ronald!”

The guard was struggling to move towards the door, and several of the other hostages including a well-built middle-aged man, helped him. Sam still stood in the doorway to the vault.

“Look-“ he began, but was cut off by Ron talking on the phone again.

“No, I’m acting alone.”

Sam sighed and went over to the phone, slamming it down on its stand to hang up.

“Ronald?” He said, and the other man looked at him. “The less the cops know, the better.”

The man who had been helping the guard spoke up, “Hey! I think this dude’s having a heart attack!”

“Get a doctor!” A woman yelled.

Sam’s eyes met Adam’s for a brief moment.

“Great,” he said, seemingly to himself. “Could be our guy. Could be a trick.”

“You just going to let the man die?” the man accused, and Sam sighed once more.

“No one’s dying in here,” he said, and then to Ron, “Cover the door.” He snatched the phone from the stand so that he could communicate with the police.

He asked for a paramedic, and inside the vault, the man began to yell at Ronald.

“Paramedic? We don’t have time for that, man!”

“Listen, I, I, I’m sorry, okay?” Ron stuttered. “I am. But nobody’s getting out.”

“He’s dying right in front of you!”

“Help,” the guard moaned.

The man helping him glared at Ron.

“Come on, man, you’ve gotta unlock the front door. We’ve got to get him out of here.” The man pleaded, and Ron cocked his rifle.

“Both of you stay where you are.”

Dean returned at that moment and moved straight towards Sam and whispered to him. The man helping the guard watched the two of them with wary eyes.

Sam moved past Ronald and walked up to the vault.

“You know what, Ronald? He’s right; we’ve got to get this man outside. Come on, I’ve got you.”

He removed the guard from the man’s arms, and the man stared at him.

“Yeah, yeah, let me help you,” he said, but Sam just shot him a cold smile.

Finally, Adam understood what was happening, what Dean had whispered to Sam, and his eyes widened a fraction. This man was the shapeshifter. Sam’s eyes fell upon his little brother, and he nodded slightly.

“Oh, no, I think I’ll take the kid. Thanks, though.”

Adam moved forward and slung one of the guard’s arms over his shoulders, helping to support him. As he and Sam made their way out, Dean glared at the shapeshifter and approached the vault door.

“Thank you, thank you,” the guard murmured to the two brothers as they escorted him to the front of the building.

“Sure,” Sam said, and Adam could tell that his older brother felt guilty about this entire ordeal.

“…Thank you,” the guard said again.

Behind them, the shapeshifter walked out of the vault and attacked Dean, knocking him to the ground. It took off, running into the dark of the hallways. Dean got up and chased after him, and Ronald raced after them both.

Adam watched him leave, and noticed a laser sight on his back. Sam noticed, as well, and shouted for Ronald to get down. The sniper that had been aiming at Ron fired, hitting him squarely in the chest. As he fell, Adam saw Dean duck behind a low wall. The three brothers could do nothing more but watch in horror as Ron slumped to his knees, then to the floor, dead.

The hostages took advantage of this, and began to run out of the vault. Dean crawled behind another low wall, closer to where Ron fell. Sam looked over to Dean and - with a call of “Take care of the guard!” to Adam - he ducked down beside their older brother.

Adam couldn’t really hear what the two were saying to one another, but Sam pulled out the key to the front doors of the building and handed it to Dean. After making sure that Dean took a key, he ran off towards the vault. Dean took the rifle from Ron’s limp hands and, looking around furtively, ran off towards Adam and the guard.

“I’m gonna help you two get outta here, ‘kay?” he said.

“Wait, you’re making _me_ leave?” Adam asked, but Dean fixed him with a stern look, causing him to fall silent.

Dean held the guard in front of him with the rifle in his other hand, and Adam stood by his side, offering extra support. The three of them approached the front door slowly, and Adam could see several paramedics pulling a stretched out of an ambulance through the glass.

“Everything’s going to be all right,” his older brother murmured as he opened the door and they made their way outside, where they were met with numerous guns.

“No, don’t shoot!” The guard said, panicking. “Don’t shoot, please!”

“Please, just move the guns,” Adam added, not wanting to get a hole blown into him.

“No, no, no, no, no!” Dean said as he saw that none of the guns had been lowered. “Don’t even think about it!”

“Please, don’t shoot!” the guard continued.

Adam saw several news vans and multiple cameras pointed their way and swore internally. His brother saw them, as well.

“Son of a-“ he muttered, and began to shout, “I said get back, now!”

After the weapons were lowered, Dean shoved his brother and the captive guard away from himself and drew back inside the building, shutting the door and latching it once more.

“We’re screwed,” Adam whispered to himself.

He helped the guard over to the paramedics, and aloud them to look him over for any injuries. One of the FBI agents that had arrived – a dark skinned man with a short beard – made his way over to where the youngest of the Winchester brothers was sitting.

“Son, I just wanted to ask you a few questions, is that alright?” the man asked, and the blond teenager regarded him carefully.

He’d been planning on ditching the scene as soon as possible and making his way to the parking garage where the Impala was parked to wait for Sam and Dean, but he didn’t want to seem suspicious to this guy. He sighed and nodded, drawing the blanket that the paramedics had given him closer to his body.

“Can you tell me your name and how old you are, kid?”

“Adam Milligan. I’m sixteen.” Adam said. There was no sense in lying, not unless he wanted to be arrested or some crap like that.

“Alright, Adam. I’m Special Agent Victor Henrikson. Is there anything you can tell me about, the guy that had you come out?”

Adam twisted his head so that he could look at the doors to the bank, as if that would suddenly make his brothers appear. He shook his head, looking directly into Agent Henrikson’s eyes.

The agent frowned, making lines on his forehead and around his eyes slightly more noticeable.

“Are you sure?”

Adam nodded. There was no way he’d tell this Fed anything if it meant his brothers would be killed or arrested.

Henrikson sighed.

“Is there anyone that we can call for you, Adam? A parent, a grandparent?”

No way in _hell_ would he call Clint and prove that he wasn’t capable of hunting. He mulled it over in his mind, trying to decide who he would call so as not to make the agent think he was here alone.

“My, uh, I was here on my own. Y’know, taking a drive, wanted to use the ATM here…” he trailed off. “My car is in the parking garage, I can just go grab that…”

The agent continued to frown at him.

“We should really get a hold of your parents or guardians, son.” He said, and Adam felt somewhat annoyed, even though he knew the agent was simply doing his job.

“My parents have both passed away, sir.” He informed him. “I live with my brother and his wife.”

“Alright, let’s see if we can get them on the phone.”

Adam reached down and from his sock he pulled out the cellphone that Natasha had given him for his birthday.

“I didn’t want the crazies to find it,” he informed Henrikson. “So I stashed it. Besides, there wasn’t any cell service in the part of the bank where we were.”

He dialed the landline for the farmhouse, and didn’t know whether to be relieved or not when Laura answered.

_“Hello, Barton residence, this is Laura.”_

“Hey,” he greeted her, and continued speaking without waiting for her reply. “Um, have you been watching the news at all? No? Good, good. So, I kinda just got out of a hostage situation.”

_“What?”_

“It’s okay, I’m fine, just a couple of crazy people holding up the bank.”

_“Adam, are you alright? Where are your brothers, are they still in there?”_

“Yeah, I’m fine, and there are still people in there. I’m actually sitting with a Fed right now,” Adam looked over to Henrikson.

_“I thought you were on a hunt!”_

“We were, yeah.”

_“Let me talk to that Fed.”_

“Um, okay…” Adam turned over to the agent. “My sister wants to talk to you.”

Henrikson took the phone from him and put it up to his ear. Adam couldn’t hear what Laura was saying to him, but he would occasionally say things like, “Yes, ma’am,” and “We’re doing all that we can.” Finally, after what Adam assumed was one of Laura’s more important questions, Henrikson paused.

“We believe it to be Dean Winchester and his brother. Yes, the same one from Saint Louis.” He said finally. “Yes, ma’am. I’ll be sure to tell him. Thank you.” He ended the call and handed the cellphone back to Adam.

“Your sister said to get into your car and drive home.” He said. “Do you want someone to accompany you?”

The young hunter-in-training shook his head.

“I’ll be okay,” he said, and made his way to the parking garage.

It was about an hour before anyone showed up. Adam had nearly fallen asleep twice in the backseat of the Impala, and was startled when two people dressed in swat team uniforms climbed into the drivers and passenger’s seats.

“Hey!” he squawked, and then the men removed their masks, revealing themselves to be his older brothers. He relaxed into the seat.

“Did you gank the shifter?”

Sam nodded wordlessly, although he was panting slightly.

“And?”

“We are so screwed.” Dean stated, and Sam nodded minutely.

END

 


End file.
